Things I'll need to buy

A good portable grill; a battery-operated 18 volt drill to raise and lower the levelers; You probably have much of what you already need from using your pop up. You're also smart to buy as you find a need!

A level

Also we went from a tent to a trailer a while back. Our first trip was with electric and we were going to be nice having the AC and microwave, etc. Funny thing is most tenters don't have many microwaveable dishes in their gear. We couldn't use the microwave until we went to the grocery a week into the first trip.

If you have been tent camping for any length of time, you know there are several categories for "supplies". The same is true for an RV also.

If you think in terms of what you needed when you tent camped, you will have most of the basics already. There are few hardware items you will need with a travel trailer that you don't need for tent camping. Those include everything you need for hitching and towing properly.

Also, unlike tent camping, you are also setting up a box on wheels. Instead of running stakes in the ground, you are securing the "box" so it won't move and need to make sure it's level. The other difference is a connection to campground facilities (water, electric, sewage).

These are the basic differences between tent camping and RV camping. Once you have the above items covered, the rest is pretty much whatever you want or need for your own comfort and personal tastes.

Clothing, food, personal hygiene, cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, cook ware, dishes, entertainment, bedding, blankets, pillows, are all personal choices that only you can make.

Basically, your camper is a small extension of your house. Or think of your camper as an annex of your house. Or think of your camper as a "branch" and your house the main office. However you've outfitted the main branch, you will outfit the annex also. You don't need to purchase anything special. And especially ... you don't need to purchase anything with "RV" in the name. You can get household items and save a lot of money.im

When outfitting your new camper you do have to cover the following areas. I consider these in importance of order.

1. Medicines, medical need, first aid items.

2. Personal hygiene items, including toilet paper. (any item to keep your clean, and your family clean also).

3. Food preparation. (pots, pans, dishes, utensils, etc.) They type of cooking you do is strictly up to YOU. For example, over an open campfire? Crock Pot? Coleman Stove, Microwave Oven? Conventional oven in your camper? Oven-toaster, electric griddle, electric skillet, bring your own BBQ? Coffee pots (electric, percolator stove top, over the fire, Keurig, drip, instant, grind your own beans?) your choice. Paper plates, or plastic plates? Plastic cups or paper disposable? Or both.

With food preparation, you also stock basic's in your camper that stay and are not removed until the end of camping season. They are replaced, just like in your house. Salt, pepper, canned food, things like that. It also depends upon how often you are able to take your camper out too. You may want to remove EVERY bit of food items at the end of every trip, and then you may want to keep some items in there all the time. We stock up pretty good at the beginning of camping season and replace was we use stuff. Pasta Sides are GREAT QUICK meals, as is peanut butter and crackers.

4. Clothing. Whatever you wear at home, wear when camping. Many people keep a complete separate set of clothing in their campers. You can do this, but not necessary. The only exception I see that might make camping clothing different than clothing in your home is if you have special hobbies that require different types of clothing, like fly fishing in a river, or motorcross, or ATV, or dirt bicycling type activities, or even scuba diving, or something like this.

5. Bedding. Nothing special about bedding. If you used sleeping bags in a tent, they will work perfectly great in a trailer. Eventually, you will want real sheets and real blankets and eventually, you'll give up the sleeping bags. This just happens! As far a sheets, blankets, pillows, and any other type of bedding ... if it works in your house, it will work in your camper ... EVEN ELECTRIC BLANKETS .... which we use all the time in the early spring and fall. You may have difficulty find fitted sheets that match your RV beds, but keep looking, you'll find a way.

6. Entertainment. Whatever "floats your boat" at home, is perfectly OK when camping. There are absolutely NO right or wrongs with your personal style of entertainment when camping. Television, videos, computer games, board games, activity games, brain games, bicycle, fishing, hunting, hiking, ATV, motorcycles, movies, ball games, sporting events.... anything! It's your choice, it's your camping trip, do what makes YOU happy and what is fun for YOU. There are no right or wrongs here. Stock your camper accordingly.

7. Last on my list of importance, but I know this should be in second place are cleaning items for the camper itself. This includes items to keep your holding tanks clean and odor free, as well as cleaning the roof, to polishing the wheel and using tire-shine on your tires. Vacuums, Clorox, dish soap, broom, dustpan, cleaning rags, paper towels, soft-scrub for your sink, scrubbies for your dishes, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, anything that is used to clean the inside and the outside of your camper.

Where do you purchase items to stock your camper? Anywhere and everywhere! Do not think you have to go to a sporting good store to purchase items. Get them everywhere and anywhere. Remember, there is nothing different in your camper than is in your house, except for a very, very few specialty items you may need or want for your camper ...like RV holding tank deogorizer, or sewer hoses to dump your tanks. Other than that, absolutely everything else can be purchased anywhere. No, you don't need to look for specialty "RV" products... If you do, your just parting with money you don't need to.

Go to camping stores, Cabala's, Dicks Sporting Good, Gander Mountain if you want. Nothing wrong there. But 99% of all you need or may want can be purchased from Wall Mart, grocery stores, yard or garage sales, or over the internet.

One thing you need to keep in mind, your needs will change over time, and eventually you'll want to get better and nicer things in your camper. We now have a better knife set, coffee pot, coffee bean grinder, griddle, electric skillet, silverware, dishes, and cups in the camper, than we do in the house. We decided several years ago that our camper is our entertainment and our resort oasis. So we have made it our top priority to keep good quality, nice items in the camper. Our best blankets, sheets, and pillows are in the camper. Our best dishes too. Our camper is our private 5 star motel! It's special, it's our vacation resort, and every time we go into it, we want to feel it's really special! So over time, we've replaced paper for Corelle ware, plastic spoons for real silverware (we purchased from a yard sale ... it was awesome getting these), and we even purchased a DISH Satellite receiver and a Tailgater satellite antenna so we can have DISH television anywhere. Our camper is our private resort. It's special. We keep it that way.

Hope this helps.

Go to Goodwill, Salvation Army or other used stores and purchase cooking equipment, implements, etc. to leave IN THE TT.

Trying to bring it in and remember to take it back out gets really old quickly. We have white sheets, white towels, white washclothes that are RV ONLY! (You can bleach them clean when they get dirty). We use colored ones for in the house, so they can't be mixed up. We have quilts that are strictly RV quilts. We use blankets at the house, so those are easy to identify.

I purchased a set of silverware at Goodwill for $10 that has been in 3 different RVs. At the beginning of the season, I will purchase spices, oil, flour, cornmeal, etc for the RV and at the end of the season, I will bring those things in and use them over the winter. Start over again in April.

I also do the same with shampoo, soap, conditioner, razors, meds (Tylenol, Pepto, etc.), sunscreen, bug spray, and those types of things.

I have two furry throws for the kids that stay in the RV.

When we winterize, I will bring the sheets, quilts, towels, and the rest of the linens into the house, wash then and put them in the space bags and take back to the RV. They winter out there so we don't forget them come spring time. When we go on our spring break trip, we don't have to worry about remembering those things. Our pillows also go into one of those bags, just to keep them from becoming mouse food or absorbing any smells that might occur.

Welcome to the forums!

Anderson levelers can be used as chocks saving some time and money.



Anderson levelers

A notepad & a pencil. Write down what you find that you need when you find that you need it. Don't buy a cheap & nasty whatever is needed cause you will find that you will only have to buy another, this time a good one like you should have the first time round.

Buy tools to suit. No point carrying around stuff that will never be needed just cause it was a great price as a set. There will be some special sized sockets needed such as for the waterheater anode, bearing nut & a few special tools for things only they can do. A torque wrench is useful as is a battery load tester.

Nice to have certain spares onboard. Having spare wetbolts for the springs came in extremely handy for me in the Yukon last year. Carrying a spare brake drum with bearings mounted can be a savior too.

You learn as you go along.

Make your list then update it on your first couple of trips then break it into 3 groups.
1. what can be done and left all camping season in the TT, bedding, chock blocks.
2. what can be done days prior to leaving, like checking tires, can foods and clothes
3. what cannot be done sooner like ice, cold food etc.

I found this makes the day of leaving less stressful and once I go over my list I know I am ready to leave.

2 Retired wrote:
A good portable grill; a battery-operated 18 volt drill to raise and lower the levelers; You probably have much of what you already need from using your pop up. You're also smart to buy as you find a need!

Get the drill from Harbor Freight 18 volt cordless. I have one & it stays in the camper. If you use a coupon, it will run about about $18.
Don't let the price scare you, it has lots of power, charger, keyless chuck, adjustable torq & has performed very well for me. :B

Adult beverages, UNLESS CROSSING THE BORDER TO CANADA!! Made impromptu trip, and didn't realize they don't want you bringing it in, nor do US like you bringing it back.

cyntdon2010 wrote:
Our camper is so well stocked after 5 years, we run out of stuff in the main house and go to the camper for back up.

Don't stress your self. trying to be the perfect camper. just relax and have FUN!

This is us. We run out of bandaids, go to the RV. Out of peanut butter, check the RV. Running low on toilet paper, the RV will have some. We've only had the RV going on 2 years, but it is the 3rd love of my life, and I like to make sure it has everything it needs at all times. We're about to be living in it fulltime, but between now and then, who knows when an ememrgency camping trip is going to pop up?